Recent news has revealed that fans of James Cameron’s “Avatar” will have to wait 4 more years before being able to check out the sequel to the 2009 hit film.
Fans were told to expect “Avatar 2″ to hit theaters in 2014 and “Avatar 3″ in 2015. According to producer Jon Landau, that’s not the case and due to the use of new technology that will take the film to the next level, the time frame has be delayed to 2016.
Maybe they are just reviewing “Pocahontas 2″ for more story ideas.
We recently learned that Patty Jenkins, known for her film “Monster” and set to direct “Thor 2″, was released from the project last week after Marvel felt there were some creative differences that didn’t make Jenkins the best candidate for the job.
This week, Natalie Portman has voiced her displeasure with Marvel’s decision as Jenkins’ part in the film was a major reason she signed on. Portman, who wanted to take some time off after the birth of her child, is now contractually obligated to star in the film.
The Hollywood Reporter spoke with and insider who said:
Marvel became concerned that Jenkins was not moving decisively enough and feared the film might miss its November 2013 release date.
And
Jenkins lacked an overall clarity in her choices.
Marvel is working to hire a replacement that has a vision that aligns itself with the project.
Brand new teaser poster for the upcoming “Spider-Man” reboot, Sony unleashed this awesome poster earlier this week!
Check it out and let us know what you think…
“The Dark Knight” introduced one of the most engaging and memorable viral marketing campaigns that kept die-hard fans on the edge of their seats for months leading up to its release. With “The Dark Knight Rises” coming out next summer, fans were eagerly waiting to see how the marketing for this next installment would top off that of its predecessor, if at all. Recalling way back to 2007, “The Dark Knight” campaign had begun on Halloween, yet this time for “The Dark Knight Rises”, nothing happened. Sure, a twitter account called @thefirerises was released that led to official photos of Bane and Catwoman over the summer, but after the enormous success of the 2nd film, was a marketing campaign really worth the studio’s investment? Probably not – however, the film has likely been projected to reel in another $1 billion worldwide regardless, so why not spend a measly portion of that for the die-hard fans? And it looks like the studio has cooked something special up indeed! We will do our best to cover the events of this campaign so let’s get this ball rolling…and here…we…go!
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES VIRAL CAMPAIGN
12/7/11 – Wired and Empire Magazine unveil two “leaked” CIA documents both concerning a missing Russian nuclear scientist named Dr. Leonid Pavel – documents attached below. The first document is a profile of the scientist and the second, a transcribed conversation between “MILITIA” and an unknown party. It wasn’t entirely certain at the time whether this was relevant to TDKR, but the photograph of Dr. Pavel, played by actor Alon Aboutboul who is known to be in the film, practically confirms it. As much as fans have tried to draw away any hidden messages in the documents, nothing has come up.
12/8/11 – A third CIA document is tweeted by account @thefirerises, announcing an “Operation Early Bird” that will commence tomorrow (Friday) morning at 10 am PST. Document below. A countdown timer can be seen at http://www.operationearlybird.com. Be sure to check the site tomorrow and stay tuned!
12/9/11 – At 10 am, http://www.operationearlybird.com, is activated to show a world map where GPS coordinates can be entered. Heading over to http://www.thedarkknightrises.com, an audio track of a woman reading off coordinates is heard. The coordinates are entered into the Operation Early Bird site to reveal IMAX theater locations holding free advance screenings of the prologue the following Tuesday.
Contrary to the film “Batman And Robin”, where Bane is a clumsy, steroid injected, freak, the character was actually a very intelligent villain who was capable of defeating Batman both mentally and physically. In the popular story arc, “Knightfall”, Bane had defeated Batman by breaking his back and leaving him as a paraplegic.
In this new photo from the set of “The Dark Knight Rises”, Tom Hardy has a crew member bent over his back similar to the cover of the famous issue, Batman #497.
Will the Dark Knight suffer the same fate? Will the “epic conclusion” of Nolan’s franchise leave Batman broken?
Let us know what you think!
According to British movie site, Total Film, this is what we can expect from “The Dark Knight Rises” prologue which is set to premiere before IMAX showings of “Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol”.
According to the site’s sources:
Bane and his mercenaries hijack a military plane transporting a dictator of a country which is in unrest (think Saddam Hussein type figure). He successfully kills the leader, but makes some mistakes along the way and is unable to safely land the plane.
Because of the resulting injuries from the accident, he has to undergo complicated surgeries and that is how he winds up with that scar down his neck and the need for the mask to numb the pain.
Also, it appears that Nolan has reimagined Bane’s origin story. This also comes from Total Film’s source:
He is raised by Ra’s al Ghul (Bruce Wayne’s old mentor) and his upbringing mirrors that of Bruce Wayne. It’s a mirror of Bruce, except it’s darker and twisted.
Bane is trained to be an assassin for the League of Shadows. He kills political figures that are deemed unfit by the LOS. So he is a bit of a Che Guevara/Jason Bourne type character.
In the latest issue of Empire Magazine, some details were given in regards to the time frame of “The Dark Knight Rises”. When we last left The Dark Knight, he told Commissioner Gordon that he would be what Gotham needed him to be. Leaving Harvey Dent to die a hero, Batman fled from the scene and left us with nothing more than the end credits.
In an interview with Empire, the film’s director, Christopher Nolan, explained where TDKR would begin:
It’s really all about finishing Batman and Bruce Wayne’s story. We left him in a very precarious place. Perhaps surprisingly for some people, our story picks up quite a bit later, eight years after The Dark Knight. So he’s an older Bruce Wayne; he’s not in a great state.
For those of you who have followed the comics, Bane wasn’t just a brute who used toxins to boost his physical state, but an extremely intelligent being who was able to break Batman both physically and mentally.
Tom Hardy discussed a bit about Bane in his interview with Empire and the brutality that went along with the character:
Anything from small-joint manipulation to crushing skulls, crushing rib cages, stamping on shins and knees and necks and collarbones and snapping heads off and tearing his fists through chests, ripping out spinal columns. He is a terrorist in mentality as well as brutal action.
With the evidence provided, what can we expect from Nolan’s final installment of the Batman franchise? Will we see Bane leaving a tired and deflated Batman left to die? Will Nolan’s Batman separate itself from the other series for a definitive ending?
Let us know what you think in the comments below!
Are you looking for a program on television where you can watch a billionaire playboy genius fight crime in a suit of iron? Or a 17 year old wizard battling the forces of evil against all odds? Or possibly a doctor who….well Dr. Who? You are in luck! None of these are at the 2011 Spike Scream Awards! However, the actors who play them are there for your viewing enjoyment!
Attendees were treated to a host of celebrities including, you’ve guessed it, Robert Downey Jr.; a live feed from New York Comic Con where Samuel L. Jackson introduces your favorite household wizard, Daniel Radcliffe; and the current Dr. Who, Matt Smith. These are just a few of the actors and celebrities you will see at the 2011 Spike Scream Awards on Tuesday. Others include: J.J. Abrams, Darren Aronofsky, Sean Bean, Kate Beckinsale, John Cho, Bradley Cooper, Colin Farrell, Amber Bear, Workaholics Anders Holm and Blake Anderson, Bryce Johnson, Caity Lotz, Joe Manganiello, Dylan Mcdermott, Chloe Grace Moretz (Hit Girl herself), Kal Penn, Ron Perlman, Zoe Saldana, the king of horror himself Quentin Tarantino along with Eli Roth, Anna Torv, Mark Wahlberg, Paul Wesley, Rainn Wilson, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
Another unexpected trio of surprise guests included Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, fresh from shooting “The Dark Knight Rises”, to accept the “Most Anticipated Award”, beating out movies such as The Avengers and The Hunger Games, among others.
Ever wonder what it would be like to see Darth Vader accept an award for “Ultimate Villain”, only to find that his secret agenda would be to slam the new additions to the Blu-Ray releases of the Star Wars movies and be confronted by a comical George Lucas himself? Me too. Who better to stick it to the man than the Dark Lord himself?
The Maverick award was given to, who else, but Nicholas Cage himself. Upon receiving this award, viewers will be treated to a never before seen part from the upcoming “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance”. Other never before seen trailers in the event include: “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows”, “Piranha 3dd”, “The Woman in Black”, “Red Tails”, and “Paranormal Activity 3″.
The finale to such an epic award show included a tribute to the ever-popular and ever-hilarious Pee-Wee Herman, where he emerged on stage via his classic red bicycle that we love so much. Pee-Wee accepted the final award for the much deserved “Visionary Award”.
The Spike Scream Awards are a very different kind of award show, rewarding the real fans with treats of seeing our favorite celebrities and trailers to the most anticipated movies. You can catch The 2011 Spike Scream Awards this Tuesday, October 18th at 9:00 on Spike TV.
Here are some of our own shots from the red carpet and be sure to subscribe to our podcast for interviews with Blake and Anders from “Workaholics” and Pee Wee Herman!
“The Expendables 2″ is currently under production in Bulgaria and we have received a first snapshot of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, and Bruce Willis on set. They all look pretty good, don’t they?
Joining them in the cast will be Mickey Rourke, Dolph Lundgren, Jason Statham, Randy Couture, Jet Li, Terry Crews, Scott Adkins, Chuck Norris, and Jean-Claude Van Damme.
“The Expendables 2″ is targeted for an August 2012 release.
As avid fans of the show may know, the “24″ movie has been in development hell for well over a year now. Scripts have been rejected, potential directors discussed, and release windows announced, but with little to no eventual confirmation of anything. Earlier this year, Sutherland had also announced that the film was set to shoot in early 2012, yet based on how little we’ve heard about things, this seems highly unlikely.
We do have an update on the film, however, but I would say for now, don’t get too excited. At the rate this seems to be going, I wouldn’t expect the film to start shooting until late 2012 for a possible summer 2013 release. In a recent interview with The Telegraph, Kiefer Sutherland was asked about the progress of the film. Here’s what he had to say:
We are coming very close to having a finished script. That’s been the most difficult thing. You have to remember that we have 24 hours to explain the stories in 24 and so trying to condense that into a two-hour film version has been a real shift in gear for us. We were originally trying to make it too big and put too much into it – but once we relaxed, we found out how to tell that story. So yes we definitely do plan on making the film.
Being a “24″ fan myself, I have to say I’m starting to feel some major Jack Bauer withdrawal the longer this film is taking to make. It’s been far too long since we’ve seen Kiefer kick some serious terrorist ass and as thrilling as his web series, The Confession, was, it still wasn’t nearly as satisfying as that 1-hour piss-in-your-pants, adrenaline rush that “24″ always promised 
I also believe this movie is the reason why Fox has been holding out on the release of the entire series on blu-ray, as they plan to assemble an ultimate collection to include everything – all 8 seasons, “24: Redemption”, “24: The Movie”, and maybe a bottle of Jack Bauer cologne. Yes, it’s real and it’s made of 100% pure, Bauer sweat (sorry, that part wasn’t real):
Let’s finally get this film made. The clock is ticking.
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